Foundation Trusts told to invest in governance

As reported in the Health Service Journal(18 September 2008) Bill Moyes, Executive Chairman of Monitor, regulator of NHS foundation trusts, has warned that foundation trusts (FTs) need to invest more resources in memberships and boards of governors or else the Department of Health might reassert its control if FTs cannot prove local accountability.

Dr Moyes was speaking at the Foundation Trust Network’s governance conference in Leeds. He said: “[Ministers] still do not have a model that allows them to communicate what the taxpayer wants through commissioning rather than government directive. The more accountable you are the more relaxed they will be, I would judge, about letting go.”

NB – Healthcare Governance Review editor, Stuart Emslie, was a speaker at the conference, which was very well attended. It was apparent from a number of presentations that there is significant confusion over the nature of governance in the NHS. For example, the issue of ‘governance and boards of governors’, as opposed to ‘corporate governance and boards of directors’, is one that is exercising many FTs.